Biogenic Turbine And Diesel Fuel

Abstract

The present invention provides fully renewable turbine and diesel fuels created from biomass sources. In one embodiment, the fully renewable turbine fuel is comprised of mesitylene and at least one alkane. Preferably, the turbine fuel comprises from about 50 to 99 wt % mesitylene and from about 1 to 50 wt % of at least one alkane. In another embodiment the diesel fuel comprises mesitylene, octadecane, and optionally octane or nonane. Preferably, the diesel fuel comprises from about 50 to 99 wt % mesitylene, and from about 1 to 50 wt % octadecane. These biomass derived fuels may be formulated to have a wide range of cetane values and differing freezing and boiling points. A preferred biogenic turbine fuel comprises one or more synthetic paraffinic kerosenes (SPK) and / or hydroprocessed renewable jet (HRJ) fuel; and between about 8 to 25 vol % of mesitylene. Another preferred biogenic turbine fuel is a blend of about 50% petroleum-based fuel; and about 50% of one or more of synthetic paraffinic kerosenes (SPK) and / or hydroprocessed renewable jet fuel (HRJ), and mesitylene.

Description

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 788,010, filed May 26, 2010, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 717,480, filed Mar. 4, 2010 which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 139,428, filed Aug. 13, 2008, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 881,565, filed Jul. 27, 2007, which claims priority of provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 833,589, filed Jul. 27, 2006, the contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates in general to an engine fuel produced from renewable materials and, in particular, the present invention provides a non-petroleum based fuel which can be produced fully from renewable materials. In one embodiment, one of the fuels of the present invention may be formulated into a variety of aviation fuels, including fuels employe...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0048]In order to achieve the objects of the present invention, the present inventors have arduously carried out research and endeavored to provide fully renewable fuels, preferably derived from a biomass having a high energy content, such as vegetable oils. Accordingly, in a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the present inventors provide a renewable turbine fuel comprised of mesitylene and at least one alkane.

Problems solved by technology

With the end of cheap oil and the mounting peak of world oil production, it is recognized that petroleum is a non-renewable resource and will eventually be depleted.

Effectively, since ethanol-based fuels have lower energy, pollution is generally increased per mile.

It is a kinetic parameter, therefore difficult to predict.

This translates to aircraft range and to specific fuel consumption.

Aircraft cannot compromise range due to the sensitivity of their missions.

Although discrete chemical compounds have been found to satisfy the motor octane number for 100LL octane aviation gasoline, they fail to meet a number of other technical requirements for aviation gasoline.

These paraffinic fuels are not “drop-in” jet fuel for a number of reasons: first, their density falls below allowable 0.775-0.84 range; and second, they tend to cause fuel leaks through o-ring seals (due to the lack of aromatic components).

There is a requirement for hydroprocessed SPKs in the current alternative fuel specification, ASTM D7566, for a minimum boiling range which is expressed in terms of the standard ASTM D86 boiling range limit as T90−T10>22° C. There is concern by engine manufacturing companies that very narrow boiling fuels (such as might be created by adding mesitylene to n-decane) might not have satisfactory combustor operability.

Thus, adding a single-component aromatic component to a fuel (as opposed to a wide-boiling aromatics blend like FIG. 1) might not provide satisfactory properties.

However, this reduction tracks well with the general trend of cetane reduction with aromatic content in jet fuels, so it does not exclude the use of mesitylene blends in diesel engines.

One expected issue with fully-synthetic fuels is lubricity.

Jet fuel lubricity is general thought to come primarily from trace polar impurities in jet fuel, so it might be expected that existing fully-synthetic fuels would have poor lubricity (as indeed they do).

The major issue for addition of synthetic aromatics to fuel blends is the effect of the aromatic addition on the poor lubricity of the base fuel.

Very limited testing with fuel blends without the CI / LI additive were performed, and it was typically seen that mesitylene did not significantly affect the lubricity of the base fuel.

As shown in FIG. 9, the addition of mesitylene to this SPK fuel did, indeed, unexpectedly reduce the smoke point (equivalent to increasing soot emissions), but in a non-linear fashion.

Efforts to verify this behavior led to inconsistent results, so it was decided to compare actual engines emissions in a T63 helicopter engine.

The 16% mesitylene blend also shows significant reductions relative to the JP-8 baseline at both idle and cruise conditions, so it seems clear that addition of mesitylene to alternative fuels does not produce a sooty fuel.

A limited amount of thermal stability testing was performed with mesitylene, with more extensive testing performed with the aromatic blend shown in FIG. 2.

Many aromatics are known to reduce fuel thermal stability although some appear to be relatively benign.

Therefore, addition of petroleum aromatics above some low threshold (below 10%) reduces the thermal stability of SPK and HRJ fuels to typical jet fuel values (where the average aromatic content is 15-20%).

Unfortunately, this method is energy intensive, and accordingly uneconomical.

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